Good Old-Fashioned French Toast Stuffed with Strawberries and Sweet Soy Cream

This luxurious stuffed French toast is the classic model, creamy and sweet. I like making it with soft potato bread, which absorbs the liquid quickly. Rustic loaves also taste great but will have a firmer texture. Adjust the fruit depending on the season—think of strawberries in early summer, figs in the fall. The French toast can be made ahead of time, wrapped in individual slices, and frozen for up to a week.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

11⁄2 cups vanilla soy milk

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 cup Egg Foam (page 3)

11⁄2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon agave syrup

1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1⁄4 cup canola oil, plus extra for oiling the griddle

4 slices bread, about 2 inches thick by 4 inches long

1 cup hulled, sliced fresh strawberries

1⁄2 cup Sweet Soy Cream (page 4)

Sorghum syrup, for drizzling on French toast

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk the milk and vinegar until the mixture c thickens. Add the foam, vanilla, agave syrup, and cinnamon (or more cinnamon to taste), and whisk to combine. Set aside.

If you’ll be serving the French toast all at once, preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Warm the slices in a single layer on 2 large baking sheets until you’re ready to serve them.

Lightly oil a griddle or large frying pan and heat over medium-high heat. Halve each bread slice nearly to the bottom, leaving the bread attached at the spine like an open book. Working in batches, dip the bread into the milk mixture for about 30 seconds on each side, then place on the griddle. Cook the bread until it turns golden brown, 4 to 7 minutes, then flip it with a spatula. Cook it on the other side until the bottom is crisp and browned, about 4 more minutes. Remove the bread, either to a plate or a baking sheet, and repeat with the remaining slices, adding more oil to the griddle as necessary.

To serve, spoon 1⁄4 cup strawberries onto the bottom half of each piece of French toast. Fold the top over, add a dollop of the cream, and drizzle with the sorghum syrup. Serve immediately.

Egg Foam and Green Egg Foam (SF/GF)

When I first started using egg replacers, they didn’t give me the effects I was after. They seemed gummy and didn’t have the binding effect of real eggs. Tweaking the egg replacer into a foam gives you a fluffy mixture that can be used in most of the same ways you would use egg whites.

Heat a burner to medium-high heat. Put the egg replacer and water in a large stainless-steel bowl.

Placing the bowl directly on the burner, whisk the mixture until it starts to foam and thicken, about 2 minutes. (It will stick to the bottom if you don’t whisk it continuously, so don’t leave it unattended.)

When the foam has fluffed up to about 11⁄2 times its original size and its consistency is similar to that of a beaten egg, remove the bowl from the heat. (If you’re not sure if the egg foam is done, you can measure it with an instant-read thermometer—its temperature should be about 100 degrees F at this point.)

Though this egg foam will keep in the refrigerator for about twelve hours, it’s best to use it as soon as possible because it will deflate over time.

Sweet Soy Cream (GF)

This sweet version of our soy cream is a good substitute for whipped cream and crème fraîche. Like our savory version, it marries well with a variety of flavorings; try adding almond extract in place of the vanilla, ground cardamom in place of the cinnamon, or whatever else you can imagine.

Makes about 3 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened soy milk

2 cups canola oil

1 tablespoon agave syrup

1 1⁄4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Vanilla extract, for sweetening (optional)

Ground cinnamon, for sweetening (optional)

Directions:

Put the milk in a powerful blender, such as a Vitamix if you have one. (The more powerful the blender, the creamier the consistency of the final cream. You can use a food processor too, but the creams will come out thinner and a bit oilier.)

With the machine running, drizzle in the oil very slowly, until it is thoroughly blended with the milk.

Continue blending for another minute or so, until the mixture has the consistency of heavy cream. (Note that it will become more like a light whipped cream after you add the lemon juice.)

Pour the mixture into a medium bowl and whisk in the agave syrup, lemon juice, and vanilla and cinnamon to taste.

Store the cream in a tightly sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to a week. It will firm up to about the consistency of mayonnaise.